RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/169,807 filed Jul. 9, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,160,568 granted Jan. 9. 2007, which is a §371 of International Application No. PCT/JP01/09900 filed Nov. 13, 2001.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to an apparatus and method for making a food product, such as a pie and a tart, by manufacturing steps at a factory. This apparatus and method allow the rate of production of a food product to be increased and the cost for making it to be decreased. Also, the food product tends to be crispy when it is eaten.

BACKGROUND ART

When a tart or a pie is made by hand, first food dough is formed as a disc. Then various toppings are put on it. Then it is baked. When it is eaten, the circular sheet of food dough is radially cut at the same given angles and divided into triangles (or fans).

When a tart or a pie is made at a factory, first a sheet of dough is made. Then, a cutter is used to cut out discs from the sheet. In that case a part of the sheet remains after the discs are cut out from the sheet. Although it is again used, the yield of the discs is still low. Thus, it is desired that the method of making the food product be improved, so that the rate of production can be increased and so that the cost of production can be decreased.

The conventional method has the above disadvantages, i.e., neither the rate of production can be increased nor the cost for production be decreased.

The object of this invention is to provide an apparatus and method for making a tart and a pie that look handmade. The apparatus and method allows the rate of production to be increased.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

To achieve the object of this invention a method for making a food product is provided.

The method includes the steps. of filling a tetragonal mold with food dough, baking the food dough that fills the tetragonal mold, taking out the food dough from the mold, and cutting and dividing the food dough in a zigzag pattern at given positions into pieces that are generally triangular.

Also, another method for making a food product is provided. It includes the steps of continuously transferring. tetragonal molds along a conveyor, supplying food dough to the molds with an apparatus that is located above the conveyor, baking the food dough that. fills the tetragonal molds, taking out the food dough from the molds, and cutting and dividing the food dough in a zigzag pattern at given positions into pieces that are generally triangular. Each mold can be a parallelogram. Each mold has one pair of side plates. Each side plate comprises a plurality. of arced plates that are connected to each other. The food dough that is supplied to the molds is a multi-layered food dough.

An apparatus for making a food product is provided. It comprises a conveyor for sequentially feeding tetragonal molds, an apparatus for supplying an underlying sheet of dough to cover the side and bottom surfaces of the molds, an apparatus for supplying a sheet of dough on the underlying sheet of dough, and means for taking out the molds from the conveyor. The apparatus can further comprise means for baking the sheets of dough that fill the molds, means for taking the baked sheets of dough from the molds, and a cutter to cut the baked sheets of dough into pieces.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a mold of an embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the mold of the embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 3 is a top view of an embodiment of a manufacturing line of this invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view of the mold on which an underlying sheet of dough is put.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the mold and a baked tart.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of another embodiment of a mold of this invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Based on the drawings, a first embodiment of this invention is now explained. FIG. 1 shows a mold 10. It has two pairs of opposite side plates 11 a and 11 b and a bottom plate. The two pairs of opposite side plates 11 a and 11 b are used as side frames. As in FIG. 2, one pair of the opposite plates 11 a has a plurality of curved plates (or arced plates or portions). At the other pair of the opposite sides of the mold, the other pair of the opposite plates 11 b is located. The ends of each side plate 11 b are engaged with engaging portions 11 c formed at the ends of the side plates 11 a.

FIG. 3 is a top view of a conveyor 20. Opposite guide plates 21 are located above it and along the direction of its length. The mold 10 is conveyed along the guide plates 21.

Apparatuses 31, 32, 33, and 34 are located in series to supply food dough to the mold 10. The apparatuses sequentially supply food dough to the mold, so that multiple layers of food dough can be formed in the mold 10. In this embodiment a first apparatus 31 for supplying food dough has a nozzle whose sectional view appears like a “∪.” Thus, the first apparatus 31 supplies to the mold an underlying sheet 31 a of dough formed like a “∪,” so that, as in FIG. 4, it covers both the side plates 11 a and the bottom plate of the mold.

Next a first embodiment of a method for making tarts of this invention by using a plurality of the molds 10 is explained. The conveyor 20 continuously feeds the molds 10. The first apparatus 31 sequentially supplies food dough 31 a to the molds. Then the apparatuses 32, 33, and 34 also continuously supply food dough 32 a, 33 a and 34 a to the molds. In each mold a multi-layered food dough is formed. The multi-layered food dough is continuous over a plurality of the molds.

Then, the side plates 11 b are inserted into the multi-layered food dough at the ends of the molds, so that the continuous multi-layered food dough is divided into blocks in respective molds. Then, they are sequentially taken out from the conveyor and baked.

As in FIG. 5, each baked food dough includes tarts that are connected to each other, so that at the long sides of the baked food a plurality of arced surfaces are connected in series. The baked food dough is cut and divided into generally triangularly-shaped food dough along a line as shown by an imaginary line C of two short dashes that alternate with one long dash, as in FIG. 5.

Each generally triangularly-shaped food dough has a tip that is covered by the underlying sheet of food dough, unlike the triangularly-shaped food dough that is made by the conventional method. Thus, the generally triangularly-shaped food dough made by this embodiment can be easily treated, in comparison with the conventional food dough. Also, it is difficult to break the generally triangularly-shaped food dough made by this embodiment.

As stated above, the first embodiment of the mold in FIG. 5 is used to make a basically rectangularly-shaped food dough. That mold has two sides, comprising a plurality of arced plates that are oppositely arranged. However, a mold shaped as a parallelogram may be used. FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment of a mold shaped basically as a parallelogram. In this embodiment two opposing side plates 11 a, comprising a plurality of arced plates, are slightly shifted, unlike the first embodiment. This embodiment allows tarts with the shape of triangles to be obtained, in comparison with the first embodiment.

In the first and second embodiments, the side plates 11 b can be disengaged from the mold. However, they can also be fixed to it. In this case, the apparatuses 31, 32, 33, and 34 supply food dough to respective molds. When the molds are conveyed by the conveyor at regular intervals so that spaces are put between adjacent molds, the apparatuses 31, 32, 33, and 34 intermittently supply food dough to the molds, i.e., not in the spaces.

In the embodiments stated above, a plurality of the apparatuses for supplying food dough to the molds are used to form multi-layered food dough in the molds. However, a single apparatus that can supply multi-layered food dough to the molds may also be used. Also, in the embodiments stated above, food dough for a tart is formed as a multi-layered food dough. However, these embodiments can be used for food dough such as a pie or pizza that comprises a single layer.

In the conventional method, disc-like sheets of dough are cut out from a sheet of dough. Then, some of the disc-like sheets of dough are layered to make tarts. In contrast, this invention uses continuous sheets of dough so that tarts can be sequentially made.

Also, in the conventional method, each disc-like sheet is radially cut at given angles. At the center of the disc-like sheet the disc-like sheet is cut many times. Thus, the tips of the pieces that are formed at the center of the disc-like sheet tend to be readily broken. In contrast, this invention allows food dough in the mold to be cut in a zigzag pattern. Thus, according to this invention the tips of the pieces tend not to be easily broken.

According to this invention no operation to cut out disc-like pieces of dough from a sheet of dough is necessary. Also, according to this invention food products can be made from a continuous sheet of dough, so that no wasted piece is made. Thus, the rate of production can be increased.